CANNES - Just before the event officially closed the books on the first ever Milia Games on Friday afternoon, Christophe Blum, the division director of Reed Midem (the show's organizer), and Milia's executive director Laurine Garaude sat down near the GameSpot booth for a short conversation.

　　They told GameSpot News that while this year's four-and-a-half-day event had slightly lower attendance overall, the number of attendees with ties to the games industry grew this year. The games portion of Milia is just a part of the overall event, which bills itself as a "content market for interactive media."

　　Garaude told GameSpot that there were approximately 6,800 attendees and almost 1,000 exhibiting companies at this year's event. Blum and Garaude expressed confidence that next year's Milia Games - especially with Nintendo's commitment to attend - will be an even bigger show for the gaming community.

　　Blum said that Nintendo made the decision to attend next year's show after touring the games hall this week and assessing the overall number and quality of developers in attendance. "Nintendo said to itself, "If we want to meet the developers and the press, we need a stand,'" Blum told GameSpot News.

　　While the deals made during the show are said to be valued in the millions, Blum said the attending companies make a point of not revealing exact figures. "It's a great city for networking... and it's not a show-off competition," Blum said, referring to the low-key nature of Milia and easy access to key European corporate execs.

　　Blum is certainly correct. Riviera Village, the hall where the game companies were concentrated in was probably smaller in its entire square footage than just Sony's or Nintendo's booth at E3 in the US. Even at a slow pace it only took about three minutes to walk the entire games hall. But as Blum and Garaude alluded to, Milia Games is about meeting people, discussing ideas, and creativity, in general, rather than a circus show of new games, accessories, and bikini-clad booth bunnies we've come to expect from other larger game shows.

　　Looking ahead to 2000, the games area will move from this year's all-season, temporary structure to a 6,500-square-meter building currently under construction on the Palais des Festival grounds. The new building will have 3,750 square meters of booth space.